Near railroad tracks and industrial buildings, Santa Ana's East Adams Street is a modest neighborhood of stucco homes and spare yards distressed by late summer's heat. From within a fenced lot, the discordant timpani of hammering disturb the quiet a block away.

After midnight one Sunday last December, Motty Stock found his wife, Freda, unconscious on the bedroom floor. He picked up two phones and simultaneously called 911 and Hatzolah, an all-volunteer emergency first-response service.

A hero of last fall's destructive brushfires in San Bernardino was 5-year-old Duke, a miniature spaniel trained since 2000 to serve as a "co-therapist." At one evacuation center during the weeklong siege, without prompting, Duke snuggled up to a 10-year-old boy...

Long troubled by infighting, the Los Angeles Iranian Jewish community is working toward less conflict as three prominent Iranian Jewish organizations recently merged with the hope of speaking with one voice.

It's popular sentiment these days that Hollywood has turned its back on Israel. Recent visits by actor Jason Alexander, action hero-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a concert announcement by Madonna indicate a few stars are still looking to show their support. But most...

The day my mother was transferred from a nursing home to a hospice, I raced from Baltimore to northeastern Pennsylvania. This 80-mph excursion into death -- my mother's death -- might rescue me from whatever boredom and tedium had enveloped me, but it would also plunge me into a...

Thinking about doing something for Israel but don't have time or inclination to go there and volunteer in person? This Sunday you can do your bit for the beleaguered Jewish state by chowing down in local restaurants.

Actor Jack Black wowed the crowd during Beth Chayim Chadashim's (BCC) Humanitarian Awards Brunch at the Omni Hotel on Feb. 22 when he played his "saxaboom" -- a toy saxophone that belts out prerecorded tunes. Black emceed the brunch for the first gay and lesbian...

Every Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., Alysson Beckman and Julie Pinchak go to Victoria Maddis' house to hang out and play. What makes this situation unique is that Alysson and Julie are both 16-year-old high school students, while Victoria is a 7-year-old girl with a neurological...

Christmas Day found some Southern California Jews
volunteering at social service agencies, some working and still others marking
the holiday with a Jewish tradition -- eating Chinese food and going to movies.

We live in an extraordinarily diverse and pluralistic city. It is in our Jewish DNA to want to participate in making the world a better place. It is also in our self-interest to live in a place where the societal needs are being adequately addressed. That is why The Jewish Federation...

Yuri Gottesman spent his summer volunteering in Israel this year, but instead of picking oranges on a kibbutz, he slept in a terrorist's house that was scheduled for demolition and cleared roadblocks that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had set up to hinder the passage of...

Boot camp for Jewish leaders? While typically only the wealthiest nonprofit organizations have adequate resources to professionally hone the skills of future volunteer leaders, last year the Jewish Federation of Orange County started the Jewish Leadership Network to season volunteer...

A powerful slogan for any organization, but all the more powerful coming from State of Israel Bonds, which held its "Women of Power" annual spring luncheon, organized by Israel Bonds' Golda Meir Club, at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Muslims should attack "Crusaders and Jews," an Al-Qaeda leader said on a new audiotape aired by Al-Jazeera. "The crusaders and the Jews only understand the language of murder, bloodshed and of the burning towers," the man said on the tape,...

It's 6:30 p.m. on a Thursday, and the modest storefront at 3531Â¼2 N. La Brea Ave. is teeming with people. The shelves that were stocked with bottles of Rokeach grape juice, jars of Tzali's gefilte fish and cans of California chunk light tuna only a half hour ago, are now nearly...

We need more stamps," a little boy yells. "How many cards do we have left?" asked a dark-haired woman. "I have more envelopes!" shouts a girl in a skirt. It's the Wednesday before Rosh Hashana at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda, yet the residents don't seem to mind the noise...

Anna Krakovich's kind eyes and bright smile don't express the horror she experienced that tragic day eight years ago. Her small facial scars, however, are a permanent reminder of when "my hopes for a better future and a new life were turned into a nightmare."

There's a 7-year-old girl who attends second grade at a local Jewish day school. She's intelligent, but in a classroom setting, she finds it hard to focus: if a fire engine roars down the street, there goes the lesson.

Hatzolah Volunteer Emergency Medical Rescue Squad, long a fixture in New York, just went public in Los Angeles, serving a circumscribed area of the mostly Orthodox Beverly-La Brea Jewish community and becoming the only volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) corps in the city.

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